


take my heart and run

by orphan_account



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21613756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He’s young, with dark hair and dark eyes, but still far older than the average Gym Challenger. He might actually be the first one she’s met who’s close to her own age. Melony idly notes that there is a certain something she likes about the set of his shoulders and the rough angles of his face.But he’s also a Fire-type specialist, and some things can’t be forgiven.(Kabu falls in love with Melony basically the second he meets her. She finds it very amusing.)
Relationships: Melon | Melony/Kabu
Comments: 9
Kudos: 255





	take my heart and run

The first thing she thinks when he jogs into her gym is _Oh, great, another one of those._

He’s wearing some bullshit Fire-type uniform and his brow is all furrowed in concentration and honestly, Melony’s kind of over Fire-loving Challengers hitting up her gym first because they know it’ll be easiest for them. She’s only been a gym leader for a year but there’s always a couple of those every week. Her only consolation is usually that they blaze through her but never make it to the final stage, stymied every time by the Water gym at Hulbury.

So forgive her if she rolls her eyes a little at this new Challenger, who looks like he has all the energy of a marathon-runner as he bounces from foot to foot opposite her on the pitch like a Scorbunny, stretching his arms above his head.

He’s young, with dark hair and dark eyes, but still far older than the average Gym Challenger. He might actually be the first one she’s met who’s close to her own age, rather than some kid setting out on their journey across the region for the first time. Melony idly notes that he’s fairly easy on the eyes - oh, please, she’s allowed to think that sort of thing, she’s a twenty-eight-year-old woman - and there is a certain something she likes about the set of his shoulders and the rough angles of his face. But he’s also a Fire-type specialist without a badge to his name yet coming to face her first, and some things can’t be forgiven.

“Alright,” the man says, having apparently finished his warmup (as though _he’s_ going to be the one exerting himself physically during the battle). His accent is strange - not remotely Galarian. She wonders what the story behind that is. “I’m ready to go.”

“Give it your best try, hotshot,” Melony taunts, tossing her first Pokéball up in one hand. This is not going to be close at all.

Predictably, he makes quick work of her team, his Centiskorch almost singlehandedly tearing through the young Pokémon she has to use for new Challengers. He _is_ a lot more physically active than most other Challengers, jumping around the field and putting his whole body into making calls for his Pokémon. When it’s done Melony shakes his hand, gives him his badge, sends him on his way. She expects she’ll hear from Hulbury a week or so later about his inevitable defeat and then never see him again.

“Never” turns out to be something closer to “until the end of the work day”. After dispatching the final Challenger of the day and leaving her Pokémon in the overnight center of the Gym, Melony comes out of the now-empty stadium to find the Fire-type Challenger from earlier that day loitering around awkwardly in the lobby and looking at the posters of her that are plastered across the walls. He’s wearing a long coat now, rocking back and forth on his feet as he looks around. He turns quickly when she appears and looks very embarrassed to see her.

“Gym leader Melony,” he says, standing up very straight. “My name is Kabu. I have something for you.”

“Is it an apology?” Melony says dryly, putting a hand on her hip. She doesn’t really mean it - there will always be trainers like him, after all, that’s just the way the Gym system works - but it seems to fluster him anyway, which amuses her.

“No,” he says, flushing lightly. “I came here to - well, I’m from the Hoenn region.”

Melony arches an eyebrow. “That’s a fair way from Galar.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kabu says, and oh, he calls her _ma’am_ , how charming. “The Champion saw me battle back in Hoenn and invited me here to challenge the Galar league. I believe you are a friend of Ms. Glacia’s.”

Melony smiles fondly as she thinks of the time she spent in the Hoenn region several years ago. “Yes, I am.”

Kabu swiftly takes a Pokéball out of his bag and holds it out to her. “Well, when she heard that I was going to Galar, she asked me to bring you this. She said she knew you always held a fondness for this one, but that you could never get one here.”

Melony eyes the Pokéball suspiciously before taking it, still a little wary of this man’s intentions. “This had better not be a joke.”

“I can assure you it is not,” Kabu says. 

He is so serious and is trying so hard to stand still out of respect for her that it makes her laugh. She has always liked a man who can make her laugh, intentionally or not. He looks a little taken aback by her laugh but after a moment he smiles, perhaps in relief that she isn’t _actually_ angry at him for their battle.

“You’re a strange one,” Melony says, and drops the Pokéball on the ground. It bounces once and with a white flash a baby Spheal appears at her feet, blubbering quietly and curiously nudging at her shoes. Her heart melts immediately.

“Oh!” Melony exclaims, falling to her knees and taking the Spheal into her arms. Though it’s just a baby it’s already larger than many of her full-grown Pokémon. It squeals when she picks it up, nuzzling into the fur on her coat. “Oh, aren’t you just the most beautiful thing?”

Spheal squeaks happily, looking very content in her embrace. Melony kisses it gently on the head and gets back to her feet, cradling it as she beams across at Kabu. He’s looking at her in an odd way, smiling but a bit faraway, like he’s thinking about something else. That flush from earlier is still there, painting his cheeks a light pink as he watches her, his eyes soft. 

Melony humors him a little, holding his gaze for a second, but she’s a busy lady. She doesn’t have the time to parse the complicated facial expressions of men. He can fall in love with her on his own time, she thinks.

“Thank you, Kabu,” she says, giving Spheal a small squeeze. “Thank you for bringing Spheal to me.”

“Y - you’re welcome,” Kabu manages, scratching the back of his head as he begins to tap his toes again. “Well, listen, if you’re ever in Hoenn - ”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll have any time for trips in the foreseeable future,” Melony says, feeling genuinely apologetic. “You’re going home right after you’re done with the Gym Challenge, then?”

“That’s the plan,” Kabu says.

“Even if you lose?”

“That’s the plan.”

“What a shame,” Melony murmurs, getting distracted by the way Spheal is beginning to squirm in her embrace. “There’s much more to Galar than just a Gym Challenge, you see.”

Kabu hesitates a little. “Galar is cold.”

Melony glances at him. “Tread lightly.”

He clears his throat quickly. “Nothing wrong with the cold. It’s just difficult for me, being from a city with a warmer climate.”

“So that’s the reason for this silly coat,” Melony says, gesturing vaguely at his getup. He sputters a little as she turns her attention to Spheal, cooing quietly at her new friend as she gently puts it down on the floor. 

“Personally, I’d stay,” she says. “Give it another shot.”

She can’t see Kabu’s face as she picks up Spheal’s Pokéball to return it, but she can hear him swallow quietly. Melony knows she’s being a little wicked, saying things like that to him when he’s so clearly taken with her (hey, nothing wrong with being aware of your admirers, especially when they’re as obvious about it as he is), but it’s just so much _fun_ to watch them fall over their feet. And she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t curious to see him again.

She returns Spheal to its Pokéball and dusts it off, putting it in her bag. “Well, I’ve got to run back and put this little one in the overnight center before they clock out. Good luck on the rest of your challenge.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Kabu says quietly, his hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes never leaving her face as she gives him a little wave and turns to go back inside. She can feel his gaze still on her back as she leaves and smiles to herself. 

Yes, this is one Gym Challenger she wouldn’t mind seeing again at all.

Melony doesn’t see Kabu at the final stage for that circuit. Instead it’s some kid who makes it through the qualifiers, because of course it is. It’s always some kid. She loses to Opal, who then loses to the kid, who then loses to the Champion. So it goes.

She and the other gym leaders are about to head out to the pub in Wyndon as they usually do after the finals when Rodney, the Motostoke leader, stops them by the elevator. “Hey, guys. I thought this would be a good time to introduce you all to my replacement.”

Melony blinks. “Since when were you leaving, Rodney?”

He shrugs. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but I could never find a good replacement. Then someone perfect finally came along, just like that! Isn’t that crazy?”

“Not really,” Melony says. “Who is it?”

As if on cue, the elevator dings behind Rodney and the doors open to reveal Kabu in his long black coat. He walks out, nervously bouncing on the balls of his feet. Melony laughs, a little in disbelief.

“So, you’re staying,” she says. Kabu’s eyes immediately find hers in the group.

“I suppose I am.”

Kabu comes with them to the pub that night, looking a little out of his element but eager to engage. They sit at their usual table and it only takes twenty minutes for him to get into an arm wrestling match with the Champion, who beats him easily and throws her head back to laugh, clapping him on the back as he groans exaggeratedly.

“I like this one,” the Champion says to Rodney, grinning. “He’s got moxie!”

“Better watch he doesn’t take your title,” Rodney shoots back.

"Mate, if you could never do it, he’ll never be able to do it,” says the Champion, nonchalantly downing half a pitcher of beer.

Melony shakes her head, smiling, as she heads over to sit by the bar amidst a rising argument between Opal and Spikemuth’s gym leader. She likes her colleagues well enough, of course, but they can be terribly loud sometimes. It doesn’t help that the Champion swears like a sailor and drinks like one, too. Now there’s no-one to keep them in check.

She’s sitting and idly contemplating flirting with the bartender to get a free drink when someone clears their throat and slides into the seat next to her. She readies her “yes, you may buy me a drink if you like, but I’m not interested” face when she turns to them but it melts into pleased surprise when she sees it’s Kabu, his back ramrod straight as usual as he sits there looking at her, his hands folded in his lap.

“What are you doing over here?” she asks, although she knows _exactly_ what he’s doing there. If she didn't already find him oddly charming, he would be failing quite spectacularly.

“I just wanted to say - that I’m really glad to be able to work with you,” Kabu says. “I admire you very much, and I think … well, I’m excited to work with you, is what I mean.”

“Oh, that’s very sweet of you,” Melony says flippantly. “Will you miss home at all?”

“Perhaps, but there are things about Galar that are, um,” Kabu starts, looking bashful. “That are worth staying for.”

He’s so high-strung when he talks to her. All that energy is so pent-up. Like a spring pressed to its limit, about to pop. Nothing like the way he looks when he’s battling, all fluid and physical and energetic. All of a sudden Melony likes him so much she can’t stand it.

“Even despite the cold?” she asks, tilting her head.

Kabu holds her gaze. “I think I’m starting to get used to it.”

Okay, she's played along with it for a bit, but the veiled comments are starting to drive her crazy. Melony has never been one for words. She reaches out, grabs the absurdly high collar on Kabu's coat, and kisses him, just to see how it feels. She finds that she enjoys it very much as he stiffens slightly, then kisses back enthusiastically after a moment of hesitation. He's good at it, and she's kissed a fair number of people in her time, so that's high praise coming from her. 

His mouth is so warm beneath hers as she presses in insistently, leaning all the way forward to slide her other hand into his hair. He makes a small noise in the back of his throat and, after being unsure of what to do with his hands for a little while, tentatively grips her forearms, which makes her laugh so abruptly that she has to pull back before she runs out of breath.

His chest is rising and falling more noticeably as he stares at her with stars in his eyes, looking like he has a thousand things to say but can't figure out where to start. Melony shakes her head, an affectionate smile spreading across her face.

“Why are you so nervous around me, Kabu?”

“You,” he manages. “You’re just … I don’t know. I didn't want to upset you.”

“Well, you needn't be afraid of that.”

Kabu laughs, low and breathless, and oh, wow, she likes him _so_ much. “I'm not like you. You’re so confident. Like you always know exactly what you want.”

“You’re right,” Melony says. “I do know what I want.”

She kisses him again, gentler this time, and relishes the way he finally relaxes under her touch.

**Author's Note:**

> Kabu/Melony is so big-brained it's insane


End file.
